[ExI] Star Harvesting

[John Clark]

On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 11:26 PM, Stuart LaForge <avant at sollegro.com> wrote:

​>*​*
>
>
> *Considering that red dwarfs make up something like 75% of the stars we
> survey, colliding them together to make hotter stars that can accelerate
> faster seems like a more efficient use of available energy.*
>

I think it would be better to break up a large star and make several small
stars out of it because small stars are actually more efficient than large
stars. Small stars transport the energy produced in their core to the
surface largely by convection so there is constant mixing of material into
and out of the core, so eventually all the hydrogen fuel in the star finds
its way into the core and gets burned up. But with large stars the energy
transport in mainly by radiation so there is far less mixing and most of
the hydrogen never gets anywhere near to the core. When a large star comes
to the end of its life it still has most of the hydrogen fuel it was born
with but its useless because its not in the core where its needed. Small
stars don't waste any hydrogen they'll eventually burn it all up but it
might take more than a trillion years. Large stars go supernova and blast
up to 90%(in the very largest stars) of the hydrogen fuel in them into
space.

​John K Clark​
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